Brotherhood
by SapphiK
Summary: Harry doesn't escape the battle with Quirrel unscathed. At the prospect of his friends death, Ron makes a sacrifice to save him. An old timeline is cast aside by a new one, whether it is a better one, remains to be seen. - Manipulative!Dumbledore, Grey!Trio


Harry wavered in the land between sleeping and waking, memories flitting past -

" _SEIZE HIM_ , _SEIZE HIM!"_

\- A fog lay on his mind, numbing a dull ever-present ache, an ache which he somehow knew would be much worse without the numbing –

" _Isn't there any way to help him, Professor?"_

\- He tried to think back, figure out how he had ended up in this state –

 _A flash of sickening purple light, pain like nothing he had felt before, as if his entire body was falling to dust, rotting away…_

\- He shuddered at the memory - or at least tried to, before realising he couldn't move, his body was frozen, petrified, while his mind was left wandering –

" _There is one thing, but it is not a path to be taken lightly"_

\- The fog was lifting now, and his memories were sliding back into place; Quirrel, the stone, _Voldemort,_ and then right near the end, the crumbling pillar that had once been Quirrel, raising its arm, wand still held, and casting a spell at him, dark purple, and then he had collapsed into pain unconceivable – a pain that was returning as the numbing fog lifted.

He shuddered, able to move again, as pain wracked his body. He neared consciousness; he could hear chanting, a deep voice, one he knew, casting a spell.

He could feel his body coming apart at the seams, an incredible amount of pain, and then, suddenly, he was floating, as if he no longer had a body at all. He felt himself start to dissipate, to float away entirely, before he felt an abrupt tug centred at his navel, and now he came crashing back down, before he lost consciousness entirely.

 **~O~**

Ron and Hermione sat waiting outside the Hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey had barred everyone except for the four head of houses and Dumbledore from entering, who were working hard to try save Harry.

They didn't know what was wrong, only that it was bad enough that it had all five professors and two professional Healers stumped, the professors had even cancelled all their classes so that they could work.

The pair jumped to their feet when the doors opened, and both looked hopefully at Professor McGonagall. She sighed on seeing them, and shook her head.  
"You might as well go in," she told them.

They rushed past her, running towards the sole occupied bed, only to be stopped short by an invisible barrier. They turned to look questioningly at the nearest professor, Professor Flitwick.

He smiled sadly at the two, "Mr Potter is being kept alive by a stasis spell, one which slows down time around his body to the point where the rate of … decay -" the diminutive professor shuddered involuntarily "- is almost zero." He pointed at where Professor Dumbledore was quietly conversing with Healer Tonks and Healer Ranbaxy, "I believe it would be best if the Headmaster or one of the Healers explained the situation."

The two headed over to where professor Flitwick had pointed, and Healer Tonks, on seeing the pair, excused herself from the conversation and walked over to them.

"Hello, Ron and Hermione I'm guessing?" the two nodded, "The professors mentioned you a few times, come on, I think it'll be better if we sit down." She led them over to an empty hospital bed, and sat down facing them.

"It was very brave of you two to go with Harry, and I'm sure your parents will be proud of you, your professors definitely are." Her face took on a more serious expression. "However, from what we can gather, this Professor Quirrel of yours met with Harry, and they fought, and something about Harry caused Quirrel to be burned, until he crumbled up into ashes. The two of you know this already." They nodded; Professor Dumbledore had explained it to them.

"What the two of you haven't been told is that Quirrel cursed Harry before he died. It is a very powerful, very dark curse, designed to slowly and painfully kill the victim, by causing his body to fall apart, rot away."

"But it's curable isn't it, there's a spell or something isn't there?" asked Ron desperately.

"Unfortunately Ronald," said Professor Dumbledore, who had walked over during the explanation, "There is no known way to counteract the curse, and the seven of us have tried everything to help him, but there is nothing we can do, except put him under a stasis charm, to keep alive for a little longer."

 **~O~**

Later that day Ron returned to the hospital wing, alone this time - Hermione was up in the library, researching, trying to find some way to help Harry, having gone there directly after Dumbledore had spoken to them.

He had wandered the halls aimlessly, until he had found himself at the Hospital Wing once more. He sat by Harry's bed, well outside the barrier, and was soon joined by Professor Dumbledore.

They were silent for a few moments, in contemplation, then Ron broke the silence.

"Isn't there any way to help him, Professor?" he asked

Dumbledore was silent, looking thoughtful.

"There is one thing, but it is not a path to be taken lightly" he said gravely, looking at Ron.

Ron was determined to do whatever it took to save Harry. "Anything Professor, if it can help Harry we have to try it."

"Very well Ronald, if you would collect Miss Granger, I will contact your parents for permission."

Ron looked confused, but left to find Hermione.

Hermione sat curled up on a couch in the common room, eyes red from crying. She hadn't been able to find anything to help Harry, not even after she had snuck into the restricted section. She repressed a shudder – the things she had read – and stared into the fire, mind blank. Nobody bothered her, not with the Twins and Percy keeping hawk like watch over her, nobody wanted to be on the receiving end of their combined wrath.

The portrait opened, and someone rushed into the common room. "Hermione!" Ron was standing in front of her, somehow grim and hesitantly excited at the same time, "Dumbledore says there might be a way to save Harry!" this had her on her feet, and the pair rushed out of the common room, Percy and the Twins trailing behind as a sort of honour guard.

Dumbledore contemplated the ritual he was setting up; a heavily modified version of the Horcrux ritual, with many of the darker aspects removed or modified, based on his research on those self-same artefacts. He had observed, when he conducted his experiments, that a person who became close to a horcrux was liable to have it transfer itself to them. Combining his research with his work in alchemy, he had come up with this ritual as a way of saving the Boy-Who-Lived.

He had procured Phoenix tears from Fawkes, which would likely have a particularly positive effect on the ritual, based on the wand that had chosen Harry, containing a phoenix feather from Fawkes. He had also procured a few vials of dragon blood, taken from Hagrid's pet before it had been relocated.

The prime difference between this and the original Horcrux ritual, besides the use of light ingredients, was the fact that, excluding the fragment embedded in his scar, Harry's soul was whole. The fragment of Voldemort that had remained in the boy would be left behind, destroyed when the body disintegrated, though it was likely a few traits would be carried over, as well as the scar.

Once he had finished mixing the dragon's blood, phoenix tears, basilisk venom, and a sample of Harry's own blood, he drew a septagram – a seven pointed star enclosed in a circle, much like the ever popular pentagram – on the ground, marking the points of the star with small circles of liquefied yucca starch and dandelion infusions, while the spaces between were marked by runes made from an infusion of mullein flowers mixed with rue, and finally drawing a spiral emanating from the centre of the star, made from mint and chamomile leaves.

Once he was done he duplicated the septagram, inverting the spiral and connecting it with the one from the first septagram. By then, Ron had returned with Hermione, as well as his brothers trailing behind, and they had been watching him work.

In the normal horcrux ritual, he knew, the septagram would be made only from the blood of the victim, there would be a very different set of runes, and the only plant based liquid that would be used was a mixture of Devil's snare and Mandrake root. In addition to that, the object to be infused with the soul fragment would be set in the centre of the second spiral, while the wizard or witch casting the spell would stand in the other.

But that was a dark ritual, designed to separate something that should be whole, a ritual of death. This on the other hand, was a ritual of life, designed to channel a whole soul through the spiral in an effort to save that very same soul.

He stood up and regarded the students standing before him. "Well, Ronald, if you are ready we can begin." Ron nodded, and Dumbledore directed him to stand in the centre of the second spiral.

"We will have to work quickly once I take off the stasis spell, please, you four, stand back so as not to disturb the ritual." He said, indicating Hermione and the other Weasley boys.

Working quickly, he removed the stasis spell from Harry's body, which quickly began rotting once more, and quickly levitated him into the first spiral.

Then he began chanting.

"Anima!" he spoke tremulously in Latin, The runes and markings darkened to black. "Akoúste ta lógia mou." he murmured in Greek, the diagrams on the ground glowing red. "Gwyro oddi wrth eich cartref!" now in Welsh, as an orange glow suffused the runes. "Uṅkaḷ cakōtararkaḷ tiṟanta itaya payaṇam." He whispered in Tamil, the glow turning yellow. "Rădăcină," he crooned in Romanian, as the runes took on a white glow. "Byōki o nokosu." His voice became sharp and rasping in Japanese, as a golden-white glow obscured the two boys in the centre of the magic. "Gain new life!" his voice thundered finally, returning to English, as an amazing mix of colours suffused every inch of the room, the spectators throwing up their arms to shield their eyes, while the participants were so engrossed in the ritual that they were oblivious to it all.

The colours bled through every barrier, seeping into the eyes of those in the room, suffusing out from the door, near invisible tendrils reaching out across the halls and grounds of Hogwarts. The magic searched through the minds of all who were in the hospital wing, participants in the ritual or not, rifling through memories so fast their owners were left dizzied.

Then, suddenly, the light disappeared, leaking into the walls. The room was left in darkness.

 **~O~**

Harry was standing in an empty room, or at least, he thought it was a room. He couldn't really tell since there was not a light to be seen in any direction. He could see himself, sure, but beyond that there was nothing. He was pretty sure he was still unconscious, but all the pain that had plagued him was gone, leaving an unidentifiable warm feeling.

He jumped when he heard a familiar voice call out "Hello? Is anyone here?" he'd know that voice anywhere, and called out in response, "Ron! Where are you?"

"Harry? HARRY!" Ron's answer was semi coherent, but was followed by the sound of footsteps on stone, and suddenly, somehow, Ron faded into view.

"Thank Merlin you're okay." He said as he came into view, but a new voice spoke.

"Not quite." The pair turned toward the voice, an African woman stood there, tall, her hair in braids, dressed similar to the depictions Harry had seen of ancient Egyptian people, but not quite. The cloth of her dress gleamed strangely, as did the jewellery she wore. Harry could feel that this was no ordinary woman, and not just because her appearance flickered constantly, different people, hundreds, wearing different fashions, ranging from ancient to modern, every country of the world, he somehow knew, despite how fleeting these glimpses were.

Throughout all these fleeting glimpses her unnerving smile and a feeling of raw, limitless power remained constant.

"Well don't just stand there, aren't either of you going to ask who I am, or where you are?" she said, smiling at the two boys, and her question jolted the two from their shock and awe.

"Er," began Harry, "Could you tell us please?" he asked as Ron nodded next to him.

She laughed, "Very well then, I'll explain what I can to you until the last of our number arrives. However," she gestured to the inky blackness surrounding them, which promptly faded into a replica of the Gryffindor common room, complete with roaring fire, "I believe we can make ourselves a bit more comfortable while we talk."

Once they had each appropriated an armchair by the fire, the yet unnamed woman began explaining.

"Now, first as to who I am," she began, "The answer isn't simple, but I suppose to put it bluntly, I am Magic." She smirked at the two boys shock, and cut Harry off as he began to speak, "I know what you're going to ask, why do I look human? This appearance was one I adopted; this is the face of the very first human to harness magic, a young girl from the pre-Egyptian era, Isis," Ron started to speak, shocked, but he quietened rapidly as the woman began to speak, "Isis was the first to take control of the magic around her, and though Humanity had access to magic for a long time, Isis was the first to realise that, and to use it. She raised her people to a great civilisation, a great healer and fighter, but it was destroyed in a great war."

She paused to wipe her eyes, "In many ways, I am Isis, just as much as I am magic, it has been a long time since we were separate, before she had learnt to use her magic." She smiled, "My people fell, and I with it, but I became part of magic, adopted as the first to be born of it. And I wasn't forgotten, the Ancient Egyptians that came after remembered me as the Goddess of Magic and of Nature, while the people of magic remember me, to this very day, as the first of magic, which is why your friend was so shocked," She explained gesturing to Ron.

"We are, right now, in a sort of Limbo, where we can talk while time outside passes slowly -" she broke off, "Hold on a moment, I think the last member of our meeting is here," she gestured, and another woman appeared, European, dressed in an amalgam of various styles, ranging from medieval times to the current era, much like Isis. But while Isis carried an air of immense age, of seeing millennia pass, this new woman seemed much younger, relatively speaking. She had a motherly air around her, and once she had made herself comfortable on a couch, she spoke to the two boys with surprising familiarity.

"Hello Harry, Ron, I see Isis has explained her past to you, and where we are, allow me to introduce myself. I am Hogwarts." She smiled at their stunned faces, "Now since you two already know quite a bit about me, I won't go into the rather long backstory, rather, I'll explain why we're meeting here today."

"Harry, you were hit with an old and dark curse, that would destroy your body slowly and painfully, in order to slow it down, Dumbledore cast a stasis spell on you. They tried all they could to help you but nothing was working. Dumbledore told Ron that if he was willing he would try a last resort.

"His plan was to take the oldest and darkest of all immortality rituals, and modify it greatly, turning it into a supposedly light ritual that would transfer your soul, and appearance to Ron's body, essentially making Ron's body a replacement for your own. That badly adapted ritual would never have worked, and even if it did, Ron would have died as his soul would have been forced out of his body."

Ron had gone very pale on hearing this, but Hogwarts continued to explain, "However, Isis and I had been paying particular attention to your particular trio, which is why the trials to get to the Philosopher's Stone had become easier to allow you three to survive them. When Dumbledore invoked the ritual, Isis and I intervened, and searched through the memories of you and your friends, and found you worthy of a gift."

Isis took over the explanation. "We stopped the ritual from going wrong and changed the way it would work. The two of you will now share a body, though you don't necessarily have to be in it at all times, one of you can exist outside of the body as a sort of ghost if you have need to, and your appearance and magic will change as necessary. You will need three wands, one for Harry, which you already have, a new one for Ron, and one for when you are both within the body. I won't explain the details to you, you'll find out the rest soon enough." The boys nodded, silent as they took it all in.

"There are a few problems though. Because of this ritual, the two of you will at times have more magic than you can control, and you will have to learn, probably with the help of your teachers, how to handle it all. Also, the protections created around the Dursley home will cease to work and you will no longer be safe there, and though the Weasley home, where you will likely stay, is well protected, it is not enough; which is why we will appoint a guardian for the two of you, someone who will protect you."

Isis waved her hand, and, with a pop, a ruffled Hedwig appeared. She glared angrily at the two women before flapping to Harry's shoulder, hooting a greeting.

"A rather unique owl she is," said Isis, "very intelligent, and pure white, despite most female snowy owls not being so. And indeed, rather than barking as most of her species do, she hoots. There is much more to Hedwig than meets the eye."

Isis gestured to Hedwig, and a stream of magic enveloped her, dissipating quickly, though Hedwig didn't seem any different, glaring at Isis again.

"I've given her a few magical abilities, which will allow her to protect you more easily." She explained. "Now I believe I will have to send you three on your way, and if you ever need help you can always ask Hogwarts for help." she lifted her hands to send them back and paused, "One last thing, it would be best if you only told Hermione about this conversation." Before either of them could speak there was a flash and everything went black.

 **~O~**

Hermione sat anxiously at Ron's bedside, waiting for him to wake up. When the ritual had ended abruptly, Harry's body had disappeared, while Ron had been unconscious. Dumbledore had run several diagnostic spells on him, before moving him to the bed, saying that they would know for sure if the spell had worked when Ron woke up, and for now they should all just return to their dormitories. But Hermione hadn't left, and neither had any of Ron's brothers, though it had only been an hour since the ritual had ended.

Just then there was a groan, and Hermione jumped to her feet, fretting as Ron began waking up. Within moments Fred and George were at Ron's bedside, and Percy joined them a moment later, having alerted Madam Pomfrey.

Ron's eyes blinked open slowly, giving the onlookers the first indication that not everything was the same. His eyes, which had been blue before the ritual, were now green; not emerald as Harry's had been, but a colour reminiscent of stormy seas.

"Oh Ron, thank merlin you're okay, I was so worried about you, how are you feeling? Did the ri-" Hermione's worried rant was interrupted by Madam Pomfrey's banishing spell, which pushed the worried students back from the bed.

"For Merlin's sake, give him some space, he's only just woken up," she said as she levitated a tray of potions towards Ron's bed, "Now dear, if you're up to it you can try drink these potions, your magic has been heavily depleted by that ritual, and who knows what else was done to you."

Ron, without saying anything, took the offered potion and began drinking it, looking contemplative. He put the cup down and said, quietly, "Don't panic anyone, but as far as I can tell the ritual did something very, very strange." With that, his eyes changed colour to blue and a transparent form appeared beside him. Unlike a ghost it had colour, and when Hermione realised who it was she screamed.

"HARRY!"

Harry looked mildly embarrassed by the attention; and Ron was already trying to get everyone to calm down, while Madam Pomfrey whipped out her wand, a silvery form shooting out of the Hospital wing, then performing multiple diagnostic spells on Harry. She turned to the other students saying "If you wish to remain here you will stay back from the beds and maintain silence - or else." in a tone that made it clear there would be no arguing with her.

The other four hastily complied, moving back from the bed just as Professor Dumbledore walked into the room, stopping short when he saw Harry. He was at the bedside in a moment, talking quickly with Madam Pomfrey, before turning to Harry and Ron.

"Now if you two feel that you are able, could you please explain what you can about all this?" he asked, "From what we can tell there is a strong link between your souls, but not much more."

Harry and Ron shared a look.

"We're not sure about much," began Harry, "When we woke up, we were able to sort of talk to each other, without actually speaking."

"Then," said Ron "We realised we were in the same body, and we decided to see if we could become separate, so we tried to and it worked, then everyone started panicking."

"I see," said Dumbledore, "If you feel that you are up to it, could you try to go back to how you were before?"

Harry nodded, his incorporeal form floating to rejoin with Ron. Rather than the joining up, an incorporeal Ron appeared on the other side of the bed, while their shared body now changed to look like Harry, who had displaced Ron from it. At Dumbledore's prompting they tried again, and this time both remained within the shared body, which now looked like a blend of Harry and Ron, with dark red hair and stormy blue-green eyes. Madam Pomfrey had already performed several diagnostic spells, and while most of the information was normal there were a few interesting points.

"It seems that your magical core is twice as large for someone your age, and I expect it will only keep growing as you do, since merging like this seems to have temporarily joined your magical cores, and you will definitely need proper training in managing a core so large, to prevent harm to yourselves and everyone around you, which I'm sure professor Dumbledore will be more than willing to organise, you seem in good shape otherwise, but I will be detaining you both for observation.

"Right now, you two will need some sleep to replenish your magic, drink this and you should be on your way" she said, giving them a cup of dreamless sleep potion. Ron and Harry complied, and were quickly fast asleep, while Hermione and Ron's brothers were shooed out from the room.

Ron and Harry were kept in the hospital wing for the next week, during which they told Hermione about their conversation with Isis and Hogwarts, asking her not to tell anyone, not even Dumbledore. Hermione agreed, feeling that the personification of all Magic was definitely of greater authority than the Headmaster, but she still asked questions endlessly about Isis and Hogwarts.

On the last day of Ron and Harry's stay in the hospital wing which was the day before the last day of school, Dumbledore visited them, telling them that he had explained the matter to Ron's parents and that they would be more than happy to have Harry staying with them, though they were very worried about both Harry and Ron.

The next day Dumbledore announced at the leaving feast a somewhat selective version of the explanation for what had happened to Ron and Harry - which the Daily Prophet ended up writing an article about - and then Harry and Ron, who were still getting used to sharing a body, left with the rest of the students.

Dumbledore sat down in his office at the end of that last day with a glass of something much stronger than butterbeer and a few lemon drops. The school had responded to the news much as he had expected it to – shock, awe, gossip, and the like. The teachers had been difficult to deal with, questioning him for risking the Weasley boy's life just to save Potter, but would have spotted a stealthy confundus charm, unlike Arthur and Molly Weasley, who had both been on the brink of storming rages that he had thought to risk their son's life without so much as asking their permission, before a few charms had gotten them to calm down, and accept Harry without questioning.

The teachers had agreed, reluctantly in the case of Severus, to teach the boys to control their larger core. He knew many would question his reasoning, but the prophecy had been clear and Voldemort still lived, so the weapon needed to be kept alive, at any cost. He had sacrificed the fragment of Voldemort's soul that remained in Harry, and all the benefits that came with it, as far as he could tell, so he would have to find another way to have him removed at the end, especially now that he was stronger magically, far too strong.

Professor Dumbledore sat in his office in contemplation of the events of the past two weeks. The next few years, he expected, were going to be interesting indeed.

* * *

 **Disclaimer: Not mine**

 **A/N: Greetings! I'm not dead or anything, and I haven't abandoned all my stories either. Here's the simple truth, I was lazy. I had this chapter written up months ago, but didn't bother uploading it. A very similar story is going on with my other stories, but with the chapters in varying levels of completion. I will try to upload more regularly, but no promises.**

 **In regards to this story, I had the idea quite a while before I actually wrote it out, and I had planned to go very in depth in the ritual magic being used, but decided to use it later, if at all. The choice of herbs and ingredients was mainly thanks to a book on the medicinal uses of plants, with certain combinations being associated with certain parts of the body, for example the eyes, skin, nervous system etc. Isis has nothing to do with the terrorist group and everything to do with her being the Egyptian goddess of Magic and Children, and her patron star being Sirius. More on that in later chapters. Any perceived similarities to Fullmetal Alchemist were accidental, but inspired the title, and maybe more if I ever get around to watching more than the first two episodes. That's about it for now, don't want to delay uploading any more than I already have.**

 **Until next time.**

 _ **Nox**_


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